


newspaper clippings

by lagatos



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, avatar musings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-12
Updated: 2014-08-12
Packaged: 2018-02-12 19:35:54
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 898
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2122149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lagatos/pseuds/lagatos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Korra and Asami flip through newspapers looking for information on where Mako and Bolin could be and find gossip about themselves.</p>
<p>or<br/></p>
<p>Asami wiped at her eyes, trying to stop giggling behind her hand. “You just looked so disgusted at the thought of any sort of romantic interaction right now.”</p>
<p>“That’s not—” Korra’s face immediately flushed a faint red. “I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, grabbing Asami’s hand in hers as an afterthought.<br/></p>
<p>Asami snorted in an attempt to stop giggling and Korra wrenched her hand away, picking up the newspaper again.</p>
            </blockquote>





	newspaper clippings

**Author's Note:**

> cute? deep? we just don't know

“Unbelievable.”  


Korra flattened the newspaper she had been reading across the table. Asami looked up from her own magazine, peaking at her from over the tops of her glasses.  


“Didn’t find anything?”  


Korra grit her teeth, resting her elbows on the table. “Nothing we were looking for.”  


Asami hummed in response, going back to scanning her magazine. Korra’s thigh bumped the table and it reverberated dully throughout the inn’s empty room. She leaned forward on her elbows, muttering under her breath.  


The pages in Asami’s hands lowered again, this time all the way to the dusty tabletop. “No mention of Mako or Bolin sightings?”  


“No.”  


The ceiling fan hummed quietly in their tiny room. Asami cocked her head to the side, watching Korra flip roughly through the pages. The table creaked as Korra leaned more heavily over her newspaper.  


“It’s just—”  


Asami closed her gossip magazine slowly, drumming her fingers against the table.  


“I can’t believe what they’re writing in the papers!”  


“Oh?” Asami lifted an eyebrow and leaned back in her chair, inviting Korra to continue.  


“I really can’t believe it,” Korra fumed, stabbing her finger to the newsprint. “The Earth Queen’s dead, the entire kingdom is in chaos, it’s just what that lowlife Zaheer wanted—”  


Another pause as Korra took a deep breath, collecting momentum to continue her tirade. Asami couldn’t help smiling to herself—it’s so Korra. To most people a deep breath would be inhaling steeply, fingers to the bridge of their nose, willing themselves to calm down. A conscious break in their irritation. Instead Korra simply readjusts herself, taking in as much fuel as she can to continue to barrel through whatever’s frustrating her—  


“—and they’re writing about _us_.” Korra glanced up at Asami, her expression a confused mix between irritation and apprehension. “ _Together_ ,” she added, eying Asami’s hand dangerously close to hers.  


Asami burst out laughing, trying hard to cover her mouth as Korra glared at her from across the table. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry—”  


Asami wiped at her eyes, trying to stop giggling behind her hand. “You just looked so disgusted at the thought of any sort of romantic interaction right now.”  


“That’s not—” Korra’s face immediately flushed a faint red. “I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, grabbing Asami’s hand in hers as an afterthought.  
Asami snorted in an attempt to stop giggling and Korra wrenched her hand away, picking up the newspaper again.  


_“‘Lovers Avatar Korra and her business beau were spotted entering a lovely yet confined hotel room with none other than Republic City’s favorite bending brothers.’” Korra paused, staring daggers at Asami. “‘What kinds of tricks is the Avatar getting into in that cramped vacation inn, is hard to say.’”_   


“Oh, no.” Asami coughed into her fist, trying to ignore the adorable flush creeping across Korra’s face the longer she read. “Republic City seems to have a risqué view of the Avatar’s daily life.”  


“Shut up.” Korra aimed a kick at her underneath the table. “Doesn’t it make you mad?”  


“How can I be mad when it’s true?”  


Asami shrieked as Korra launched herself out of her chair, narrowly avoiding cracking her head on the bedpost in her attempted escape.  


“I’m _serious_ ,” Korra said, trying to hold Asami down against the rough sheets on the inn’s bed. “How can they be writing about something like this when so much is happening right now?”  


The bed creaked as Korra sat on her heels, slowly letting go of Asami’s clothes. Asami rolled over onto her back, staring at the cracked ceiling. “I don’t know.”  


She glanced at Korra, at the hard line of her profile. “Isn’t that how it’s always been?”  


“I don’t know.” Korra gave her a small smile. She shifted on the bed, her knees finding Asami’s side. “Kind of never grew up around this stuff like you.”  
“Hm.”  


The ceiling fan continued to whirl, softly rustling the forgotten papers on the table.  


“Why can’t I do anything right enough for everyone?”  


Asami bit her lip, letting her fingertips trail over Korra’s knee. In some other world, it would be enough to just forget everything with a kiss.  


“It’s not supposed to be right for everyone,” she finally said.  


“But I’m the Avatar,” Korra added crossly. “I’m supposed to bring peace for everyone.”  


“Are you supposed to bring peace to people like Zaheer?”  


Korra scrunched her nose, pulling a face. “That’s not the same and you know it.”  


“Why not?”  


“He _killed the Earth Queen_. He wants to bring chaos to everything. He’s not good.”  


“Didn’t you want to get rid of the Earth Queen?”  


Korra sighed forcefully, letting her head thunk down next to Asami’s on the hard mattress. “Didn’t you?”  


Asami shifted, making space for Korra on the narrow bed. “You’re the Avatar. Doesn’t that mean you get to decide what’s right?”  


“That’s what I’m saying! That’s too much for one person.”  


Asami picked up Korra’s hand, playing with her fingers absentmindedly. “I’ve never seen you falter on your gut feelings for what you think is right. Not once.”  


Korra didn’t say anything. The papers still rustled softly on the hard wood table. She let Asami move her hand, twisting her fingers into shapes that threw shadows on the wall.  


“Besides. You’re not one person. I’m here for you. And we’re going to find Mako and Bolin, and they’ll be here for you too.”


End file.
